Shape up before you ship out!

Get in shape, the warrior way! 300 PFT is a proven and successful program that helps you get in shape, doing it right. It's designed by a Marine, and it's been tried and proven to get you the results that you need. Whether you're a civilian planning on entering the military, or a current service-member, 300 PFT is designed to help you achieve! Oh yeah, did I mention, it's free?

Check it out!

http://www.300pft.com/

The future

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of cockpits. The F-35's revolutionary new cockpit design integrates a variety of amazing gadgets that come together seamlessly to form the "brain" of the world's newest fighter aircraft. Touchscreen displays, decreasing the number of knobs, dials, buttons and whatnot, and a helmet-mounted HUD make this one hell of a user-friendly aircraft. Awesome, isn't it?

The ultimate roller-coaster ride.

Six Flags, Cedar Point, Disney? Nooo. The ultimate roller-coaster ride is most definitely getting launched off the deck of a carrier, 0 to 150 mph in just under 2 seconds! 

Iceman's Answers: How do I know which branch is right for me?

Okay, let's start off with the most basic question of them all:

"Which branch do I join?"

There's no easy answer to this. Time and time again, potential recruits need to be reminded that joining the military is a decision that THEY must take, not their parents, friends, significant others, family, etc. By the time you turn 18, you can go right ahead and sign the line on the papers, raise your hand and take the oath. Your parents and friends aren't the ones who should be dictating to you the branch you'll serve in and what you should be doing.

Here's the issue: recruits are confused by the wide array of jobs available, and the different branches that offer these jobs. I've seen confusion between the Marines and the Army, and what exactly they do. The same goes for the Navy and Coast Guard, the Navy and the Air Force, etc.

It all depends on what you want to do. Each branch has it's own set of unique jobs. Let's take aviation, for example. The Navy and Marines usually fly off aircraft carriers. The Air Force is strictly land-based.
If you feel that becoming a fixed-wing pilot is your goal, then you've got 4 options: The Air Force, Navy Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Since there are a variety of fixed-wing type aircraft, let's streamline that a little further to a fighter pilot. Now, that list gets narrowed down to the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. If you don't, for example, want to be a carrier pilot, then the Air Force is the way to go.

Of course, there will always be the motivation to join the branch that seems the best, regardless of what it can offer yo. What I mean by that, is joining, say the Marines over the Army, because everyone says the Marines are the best of the best, and the Army's full of kids who wanted to get their hands on guns, just to have a little fun. Not entirely true. The Marine Corps is an outstanding institution, older than the United States itself! But, that doesn't mean that you don't have half-wits or slackers joining it. The Army also has their fair share of slackers and soldiers who don't do their jobs right, but, is actually very similar to the Corps in terms of jobs and training.

I'm baaack!

Hey guys, it's been 3 months and 6 days since I was last active on here.  I'd like to extened my apologies for that. I'm currently a full-time student with barely any time on his hands, so I easily lost track of the blog and let it go to waste. No more!

I'm going to start off this new blogging year with something different. In addition to my regular posts, I'm going to answer "questions" on here about the military for those of you who plan on joining up, or for all the enthusiasts out there. These will be very basic and general in nature, though if you do have a specific question in mind, go right ahead and send me an email. I'll do my best to find out the answer for you.

I hope y'all had a happy Thanksgiving, a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and greetings for all the other holidays I must've skipped over while I went AWOL.

Semper Fidelis.

Born as an act of Congress on this date, 236 years ago, consecrated in sacrifice, steeped in tradition, and tested in battle. From the Barbary Coast to Belleau Wood to Tarawa and Iwo, to Beirut, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps has fought through adversity emerging victorious from the rills of blood, sweat and tears of those fallen brothers who gave all for God, country and Corps. Gen. Lejeune in his 1921 message to the Corps could not have said it better: 

"This high name of distinction and soldierly repute we who are Marines today have received from those who preceded us in the Corps. With it we also received from them the eternal spirit which has animated our Corps from generation to generation and has been the distinguishing mark of the Marines in every age. So long as that spirit continues to flourish Marines will be found equal to every emergency in the future as they have been in the past, and the men of our nation will regard us as worthy successors to the long line of illustrious men who have served as "Soldiers of the Sea" since the founding of the Corps."

Semper Fidelis to all Marines past, present and future.

Never Forget.

"Are you guys ready? Let's roll."

After reciting the Lord’s Prayer, Todd Beamer, a passenger aboard United 93 rallied his compatriots with those words in an assault against the terrorist-occupied cockpit of the Boeing 757.

It has been 10 years since Islamic fundamentalists flew three airliners, packed with people aboard, into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. It’s been 10 years since the heroism of those few aboard flight United 93 who stormed the cockpit, crashing the aircraft into the ground, preventing the terrorists from attacking one of their final targets, the Capitol or the White House. 

2976 died as a result of those attacks. Most of these people at work, waiting for the long day to end, so they could head home to their families, kick up their feet and spend time with their kids. They were sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts and friends.
Many of the passengers were settling in for a quiet, boring flight. Maybe they were off on a business trip, or to see family. They did not know that this would be their eternity flight. Their loved ones would never see them again.

Ten years ago, I was eating breakfast, ready to start another boring day at grade school. My parents turned on the television to check out the news. After the first tower was struck, all of the channels changed to newsfeeds. We watched live as the second aircraft flew into the South Tower. We watched as the news cameras showed disturbing videos of men and women jumping from the tower. We learned of United 93 and the attack on the Pentagon later. The phone lines were jammed. As it turns out, we lost a friend. A distant one, but a friend nevertheless.

It was truly a day of fear.

The attacks spawned a new generation of Americans. Suddenly, the defense of the nation fell to the shoulders of America’s youth. The attacks moved so many to join the military and to fight for what they, previously, had taken for granted.

We can never forget the heroes of 9/11. Those brave NYPD officers and firefighters who ran towards the dust, giving up everything to save whoever they could. They ran to the sound of the guns, not away. They would have been justified in attempting to escape the situation with other fleeing civilians. They had families too. They had wives and kids, but they nevertheless steeled themselves for the worst ran to save those who they could, so that they could return to their families and loved ones.

We can only pray to God that history will never repeat itself in this way. We can never forget these attacks, and those who died. We can never forget the heroes and the sacrifices they made to save others. We can never forget our military and their continued fight against terrorism and injustice and their defense of their nation.